SELFIE SACRIFICES
Digital map exhibited at KP Digital 22, Kunsthal Aarhus, Denmark 2022.
The work consists of a map with the names of different swamps and bogs located in the hilly moraine landscape north of Copenhagen. By clicking on the swamp on the map, you will be directed to the location on Google Earth where you can navigate in the 360 degrees street view. In each swamp you will find an immersed self portrait painted on semi-transparent paper with mud from the swamp and a decoction of alder cones.
The work experiments with Google Earth as an exhibition platform by creating connections between the digital and the site-specific physical reality, in which two traditional genres within fine art - the landscape and the self portrait - are put into play.
The title of the work refers to the word self-sacrifice, which means " the sacrifice of oneself or one's interest for others or for a cause" and wonders what the most precious item would be for modern humans to sacrifice: ones self image, ones selfie?
In Scandinavia in the Mesolithic period through to the Middle Ages bogs and swamps were possibly perceived as being sacred gateways to the other world and gateways to the Gods, and the most precious items such as earthenware, decorative metalwork, weapons, and human corpses were sacrificed/deposited there. Later in history the bogs were exploited as a source for iron and peat and in recent centuries drained for agriculture.
Today, bogs are considered highly endangered and vulnerable eco systems that needs protection and preservation.
